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In order for employees to move up the job ladder in an organization, they need to change their focus from tactics to strategy.

In spite of the new “flattened” organizational structures, most organizations today are still modeled on a military hierarchical style. Staff officers are generally tasked with setting strategy and field officers are tasked with implementing that strategy through tactical units.

If you are a mid-level manager who wants to move up into leadership, how do you adopt a strategic way of thinking? How do you develop the skills you need to move beyond day-to-day, reactionary thinking to a more long-term and future-focused perspective?

The first step is to understand the difference between strategy and tactics. Remember, the key to effective leadership is setting the strategy, trusting the tactical officers to accomplish it, and getting out of the way.

Here are some differences between strategy and tactics, based on information from Jeremiah Owyang at web-strategist.com:

Outputs

What do you need to start thinking strategically? You can start by setting a strategy in your department, using these tips:

1. Build a broad organizational network

The more you learn about all the functional departments within your organization, the more you’ll be able to see how they work together to support the organization as a whole. The more you interact with higher-level executives in your organization, the better you’ll begin to understand the strategy.

2. Ask the right questions

The more strategic you think, the less you will ask “what” and the more you will ask “how” and “why.” Instead of asking yourself questions such “Why are we still using this process?” you will focus on questions such as “Why are we in business?” or “How do we prioritize our shareholders, customers and employees?”

Laurie Glover is an organizational development professional with extensive international experience in corporate training, academia, and sales and marketing management. Glover is CEO of QSTS, a consulting firm that helps organizations and individuals move from “good” to “great” by igniting organizational excellence. The firm specializes in workplace learning programs on leadership, management and supervisory skills, and in programs for lawyers and accountants in building their practices.